Joe's Three-Year Well-Child Exam*

Joe paid a visit to his beloved Dr. Harrington Thursday for his three-year well-child exam. Now that he's three, he's a lot more clued into everything. So when Julie arrived to pick him up to go see Dr. Harrington, he promptly informed her he wasn't sick. After Julie had set him straight, he set Ms. Tyree and his friend Teddy straight: "I going to see Dr. Harrington. But I not sick! I be right back."

Joe's well-child exam revealed that Joe is well. He weighed in at 38 pounds (94%) and measured 38 1/2" (76%). His ear tubes have fallen out. They begin testing vision at three, and we are told Joe has 20/30 vision, and that this is within the normal range for this age. (This vision test was pretty hilarious. Instead of letters, the kid is asked to identify shapes--stars, hearts, circles, squares. Julie thinks Joe started saying "I don't know," when Nurse Amber asked him what a shape was when he got tired of this "game." He did, after all, have the lollipop and sticker that were to come at the end fixed firmly in his mind. Yes, much more clued into how this all works now.)

Joe has continued to express a preference for Ted to do certain things: climb on his bed in the morning for the morning snuggle-in, pour his two bowls of cereal, pour his juice, push in his chair to the table, and buckle and unbuckle his car seat. His objection to Julie doing them seems to be rooted in his expectation that Ted will do them, and that Julie will do other things (it is, according to Joe, Julie's job to lift Clara from her crib in the morning). If Ted is about, and Julie tries, tears are shed, wails are wailed, bodies are occasionally flung upon the ground and feet kicked. She continues on, but both Julie and Joe are heartbroken, albeit for different reasons. We have been careful to mix up who does what for whom, and to carve out one-on-one time with each of us for both Joe and Clara, so we were at a bit of a loss.

Dr. Harrington told Julie this was all normal, and that we were doing just right. When Julie managed to choke out that Joe once replied to Ted that "No, he did not love Mommy," Dr. Harrington laughed reassuringly and said, "Oh of course he did!" But confirmed that of course, he really has no idea what that means, beyond knowing it would probably get some kind of reaction.

And so we continue on, doing our best to get the snuggling done, the cereal and the juice poured, the chairs pushed in, the car seat buckled and unbuckled, poker faced, with sometimes teary eyes and exasperated spirits, but full hearts.

*We thought you, Dear Readers, might like to know that following the doctor's visit, when Julie took Joe for a cupcake at Yum!, Joe put pepper on his cupcake, and his lollipop. This one loves a pepper mill.